Running Home to You: A Supercorp Fic
by O Afonso
Summary: Kara's patience runs out with Lena's workaholism, and she gives the Luthor a piece of her mind, along with her insecurities and doubts about the relationship. Angst ensues, and then Kara has to go be at Barry Allen's wedding to be his wedding singer. Fluff ensues.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Ok, I'm opening with lots of tension, but I promise that the fluff will come and the payoff will be worthwhile!

Dedicated to every one of you out there with a workaholic girlfriend as your Kryptonite.

Kara squeals at Lena with glee when the Kryptonian opens the wedding invite from Barry and Iris. "I'm so happy for Barry! Did you know he's been in love with Iris since he was 10?! Can't beat that for a love story," Kara beams. Lena barely looks up from her laptop. "Mmhmm, great for them, babe," she mumbles while adjusting her thick, dorky glasses, and continues to type furiously.

Kara rolls her eyes and tries to ignore the fact that Lena had been working all night when tonight was supposed to be date night. Fine, two years into the relationship, they are already at the point where date night is just staying indoors and snuggling over a romcom and lots of junk food for Kara and kale chips for Lena, but still. It was time together and that was very important to Kara. Even if it didn't seem to be to Lena.

Sunny Danvers tries to keep her voice bright. "So, are you coming with me to the wedding? It's - wow - next week. We should RSVP now," Kara asks, already bracing herself for rejection. During the honeymoon period the first few months after they got together, Lena had been able to maintain some sort of work-life balance, but once they got really comfortable with each other and the relationship, she had plunged right back in to bringing L-Corp ahead of its two biggest competitors - Smoak Technologies and PalmerTech.

Lena mutters something about budgets, the complex spreadsheet in front of her commanding all 167 points of her IQ right now. Kara rolls her eyes and sighs. She seriously suspects that if she were to super-speed strip naked and dance in front of her best-friend-turned-girlfriend right now, she wouldn't even notice.

"Lena, can you shut down that darn laptop for just one minute and actually pay attention to what I'm saying for the first time tonight? Or have you forgotten that it was supposed to be date night?" Kara cannot keep the edge out of her voice. She tries to be understanding, she really does, and Kara knows she herself also gets very busy with Supergirl duties and sometimes her day job. But Lena works as if her life depends on it. Whilst Supergirl only works on a need-to basis. There's a key difference in there somewhere, Kara insists, though she can't quite articulate it, especially when they are fighting and Kara's mind blanks out.

Lena slams down the lid of her laptop, and fixes Kara with a glare. "Kara, you know tomorrow is the major pitch against Smoak Technologies and I am this close to getting a breakthrough which will definitely win L-Corp the contract. I really need you to understand...and even if we don't get this contract, I've told you that I am overdue for a trip back to Metropolis to check on the L-Corp branch there and next month is the best time for me to do it."

Kara feels a flash of guilt, but the tide of anger behind it is much stronger. The hurt rushes forward and takes over her mouth. "I just thought maybe you could spare one day for us to get away from everything, to just focus on each other and spend some quality time together-" Lena cuts her off in a cold, hard, voice. "I'm sorry, Kara, I can't afford it right now. Not when I'm so close to beating the competition. I thought you understood this about me." Lena's voice cracks a little at the end, her vulnerability threatening to poke through, imploring Kara to give in.

Kara's eyes harden and she swallows hard, willing her tears not to fall. She storms into her bedroom, shouting, "Go back to your office then, since it's so important!" She jumps onto the bed, not bothering to change into her PJs first to accommodate Lena's OCD, and sits up against the headboard, fuming. She waits for Lena to come in and apologise to her, as she usually does after Kara calls her out on her workaholism. Deep down, Lena knows Kara is right, that the billionaire CEO works too much, and always shows Kara some proper attention after that. But she hears the front door slam instead. Guilt grapples with anger in Kara's heart. Maybe Lena had a really bad day. She hadn't asked her about her day yet, because Lena had been engrossed in work the moment she got home at 10pm, and Kara had been too busy trying not to be mad at her that she had not asked how Lena's day went.

Kara considers calling Lena, apologising for her outburst and asking her to come back. But Kara recalls how Lena has hardly been paying her any attention for the past week, and the anger rises up in her again, hot and fast, accompanied by hurt and the never-far-away thought that maybe Lena is regretting this relationship after all. After all, Lena was gorgeous, smart, rich and powerful - she could have anyone she wanted, certainly someone who was not constantly nagging at her to stop working so much. Kara had never viewed her alter ego as a plus for any partner - sure, there were the perks of superspeed and her effortlessly ripped body, which Lena was always going on about. But what it really meant most of the time was added danger and worry for Lena, plus a lot of interrupted or cancelled dates. Put Supergirl together with a workaholic, and you got a relationship where long stretches of quality time together were very, very rare and precious. Thinking about the times she's bailed on Lena on dates makes Kara's heart twinge with guilt, but no, she's too angry and hurt to reach out to Lena right now. The words would come out all wrong. Better to sleep it off.

Of course, sleep evades her that night - as it always does when Lena is not by her side, her soft hair, even breathing and steady heartbeat her personal lullaby.


	2. Chapter 2

Lena glares at the back of Kara's petulant frame as she storms off.  
She knows that she has been ignoring Kara all night, on date night, but she can't help but feel that her girlfriend was overreacting. She feels misunderstood. Even when they were only best friends, Kara had known she was a workaholic, and she was the most understanding person in her life, always bringing her food and coaxing her gently, patiently, to go home. Yes, Lena always had work, but Kara always had people to save - and Lena never complained about that. She took all the neglect in her stride, never made a fuss even when Kara disappeared onto another Earth for days on end - so why couldn't Kara do the same for her? Lena's face hardens and for the first time in a long time, she hears the old Lena's voice in her head, saying, I told you - you're better off alone. No one understands what your work means to you, so you shouldn't expect them to. Kara is just like the others - she'll leave, in the end, because she can't stand coming in second to your work.  
She waits for a minute to see if Kara would come out, head hanging, puppy-dog eyes cranked up to fatal levels, if Kara would bury her head in Lena's chest and say she doesn't want to fight. But Kara stays in her bedroom.  
And so Lena packs up her things and leaves, not bothering to stop the door from slamming.  
She hates that she is already in tears by the time she gets to the elevator. Old Lena's voice keeps getting louder in her head.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Kara wakes up, only to have fatigue pull her eyes shut again immediately. She feels like she only fell asleep 10 minutes ago. Not bothering to open her eyes, she gropes blindly for Lena, her source of comfort, as she always does. Her fingers find only cold, empty space, and she remembers the fight. She replays the conversation from last night in her head. In the bright light of day, her words and actions seem childish even to her, and she admits to herself that she may have overreacted. She cringes, guilt twisting in her chest as she remembers the stress and exhaustion and hurt on Lena's face. Sighing heavily, she decides that she would look for her girlfriend at L-Corp that afternoon. Bring her some kale salad as a peace offering because the CEO would definitely be snowed under with work.

It is a slow morning at CatCo and Kara is distracted, replaying their fight over and over in her head and feeling stupider each time. At 11.30 she cannot contain her nervous energy anymore and leaves CatCo, even though Lena only has lunch at 1pm. She shows up at Lena's office with a kale salad and 5 gigantic sticky buns from Noonan's. She pauses for a second outside Lena's door, drawing a curious expression from Jess, since Kara usually bursts in, looking as excited as a child on Christmas day to see Lena. The blonde wonders if Lena is still mad at her. She opens the door and waves the bag of food at Lena, her face apologetic. She intensifies the look in her eyes that Alex and Lena insist make her look like a puppy, and turns the full force of it on her girlfriend.

The puppy-dog eyes work like a charm. Lena smiles back at her, and Kara can see her girlfriend's body visibly relax.

"I'm sorry, I overreacted yesterday," Kara hangs her head.

Lena strides quickly over to her, and Kara feels her girlfriend's arms around her. "I'm sorry too, darling, I know I've been a bad girlfriend. Neglecting you for work…" Kara looks up, and sees that Lena's lip is between her teeth, and she's frowning worriedly. Kara can see the hints of fear and vulnerability in her gaze, knows what Lena is thinking.

" I'm the bad girlfriend for laying into you when you're stressed and tired," Kara says, pressing a feather-soft kiss on the crease in between Lena's eyes. She is even more tender than she usually is with Lena, just in case she's having a headache, as she usually does when under this much stress. "Don't frown, darling." She pulls Lena into a tight embrace.

"I know it's too early for lunch, and you probably aren't hungry, but I'm just going to leave this kale salad for you, okay? Extra dressing, just because my baby's having a tough day," Kara grins, and her heart warms up when she sees her girlfriend melt.

"Well, I'm feeling rebellious, and having lunch before 12 never killed anyone," Lena says, her eyebrow quirking, turning the full force of her sexy smirk on Kara. Kara is reminded of the time before they got together, when she had asked Lena if she liked doughnuts and Lena had replied, "Well, I am human," with this exact same smirk. Right from that very first time, this expression of Lena's has made everything inside Kara clench with pleasure.

"And besides," Lena continued, seductive smile still in place, "I'm actually kinda hungry...I haven't eaten since-" Lena gets a guilty look in her eyes, and flicks her wrist dismissively. "It doesn't matter. Let's eat," she smiles again to disarm Kara, stop her from asking when her last meal was.

Just like that, the fight is forgotten, and the two women sit on Kara's iron-grey couch and dig into the food, Lena updating Kara that her team did in fact get a breakthrough and is confident of defeating SmoakTech for the pitch at 2pm. Kara leaves after 15 minutes, dancing on the threshold where Lena would start wringing her arms and feeling guilty for stopping for sustenance when she had so much to do. Before she leaves, she kisses Lena on the lips, fervently, hungrily, missing the exquisite feel of the brunette's mouth against hers even though it has been less than 12 hours.

When Kara gets back to her desk, she sighs and RSVPs for one on Barry and Iris' wedding invite.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next few days, Lena is apologetic but barely says two sentences to Kara each day as she buries herself further in work. She is distracted whenever Kara talks to her, and barely acknowledges her presence even when Kara comes to L-Corp to send her home. They won the contract, Lena says, and now they must deliver within the short timeline. "It's just one of my peak periods, darling, you'll have my full attention after this," Lena promises. But Kara can't help but feel that she's heard this before, when they were still just best friends. Her "peak periods" could go on for months and blend into each other. She sighs, unconvinced, but nods to keep the peace, her heart losing hope with each day. Feeling useless for sitting around and pining after her workaholic girlfriend, the superhero steps up her patrols around the city, saving more kittens than usual when it's a slow day, until even Alex tells her she's at the DEO too often. Even when she gets into challenging alien fights, a part of her mind is still focused on Lena, listening for her heartbeat, which is always too fast these days. She knows the Luthor is hard-wired to equate her work with her self-worth, to equate career success with her identity, knows that Lena still feels she needs to prove herself to the board members at L-Corp. She hates that Lena can focus 100% on her job when Supergirl can't, knows that Lena is just built that way, that she can't help it, she feels guilty but she hates it all the same.

The day before Kara has to Earth-leap for Barry's wedding, Lena falls sick. That morning, Kara catches her girlfriend holding her head in her hand and looking paler than usual. The blue-eyed blonde sits up in bed and fixes her girlfriend with a worried stare. "What's wrong, darling?"

"Just a headache. I'll be fine." Lena puts on her power-through face, and picks up her bag, ready to go to work. Kara's heart aches and bristles in annoyance at the same time, at how her girlfriend can't, won't, take care of herself. Won't prioritise her health over her company. Kara wills herself to keep her mouth shut - she doesn't want another fight because she can feel in her bones that the next fight will be a big one, because of her pent-up unhappiness.

At lunch, Kara goes to L-Corp to find Lena shivering in a blanket at her desk as she tries to "power through" her sickness. Knowing that only Lena can review the CCTV footage in her office, Kara does not bother with subtlety and uses her super-speed for the 24 steps it takes to get to Lena's side. She puts her hand on Lena's forehead, knowing that the CEO would flinch, would resist being babied, but Rao, she's her superpowered girlfriend and she would carry her out of this damn office if she had to. As Kara suspected, Lena is burning with fever and refusing to go home.

"Kara." Lena looks at Kara with bloodshot eyes. Fatigue is radiating from Lena's body but her warning tone makes the superhero drop her hand from the CEO's forehead. "I have to," Lena says, her tone changing to one that almost begs.

Kara knows she should go, knows that Lena just wants to be left to her own devices when this happens, to work until the brink of collapse before she would let Kara carry her home. This has happened so many times that Kara is tired, so tired. But rage again takes charge of her mouth.

Kara's voice is low, quaking. "I know work is the most important thing for you, but all I ask is for you to take care of your own health while you're doing it. You always think you know your limits, but you don't, and you have no idea how selfish this is because I am constantly worried about you, especially when you're like this. Back in Krypton our people never got sick, a-and humans are so fragile, I mean, a flu once wiped out chunks of the world's population! A-and humans are getting immune to antibiotics, and once in a while there is a super-virus, and I can't-I just can't lose you but you won't understand and rest!" She knows she's too worked up now, her glare at Lena so intense that she can almost feel her eyes heating up for shooting lasers. She takes big gulps of air, trying to calm down. The CEO of the biggest corporation in the world looks terrified of her, her own girlfriend. Kara hangs her head, suddenly feeling drained of energy. But she has one last thing to say, since she's already started. She feels reckless. If Lena wants to leave her for this, then so be it. But she has to say her piece, she can't take it anymore.

"It's okay that you don't have time for me. I mean, I'm really struggling to be okay with it, obviously, but all I want to do is share in your pain. That's what it means to be in love, isn't it? To share both pain and joy. But you've been shutting yourself off for weeks - I don't know what you're thinking, I don't know how you're really holding up, and when I don't know, my imagination fills in the blanks with the worst things. I mean, how hard is it to spend just five minutes in a day to tell me how your day was, and let me cuddle you and make you feel better? Everyone has five minutes, even Lena Luthor! That's all I ask! It doesn't feel like a relationship, Lena, when you keep shutting yourself off and refusing to let me in!" Kara's breath is coming quick and fast now, as she pours out the unhappiness she has been bottling up for weeks. Her mouth has taken on a life of its own.

"And this makes me wonder - really wonder - if we're suitable for each other. Maybe someone better than me can deal with you when you're like this. Maybe if you loved me enough you would trust me enough to let me in, let me share your bad days. Maybe if I were human instead of alien, I would instinctively know how to get you to let me in. And then you would want to come home to me every day, instead of preferring to spend all your time in the office. Then I could be a comfort to you, instead of just feeling like I'm in your way and being upset with you and waiting for your attention like a puppy ," Kara's blood is rushing in her ears and her pulse is loud, thrumming in tune with the drumbeat of guilt that intensifies now, clutches her heart in a fist that won't let go.

She hangs her head, feeling as though she's been hit with a Krytonite bullet and all the energy is draining out of her. "And maybe you deserve a better girlfriend who does not say such things to you when you're sick," Kara swallows hard at this, tears already streaming down her face. She leaves, slamming the door behind her.

For the rest of the day, Kara writes her articles with a constant blur of tears obstructing her vision. None of her colleagues dare to ask, and when James takes one look at her and pulls her into a hug, just holds her for five minutes without saying anything, she cries until she feels empty. There is no word from Lena. Kara alternates between being mad at her and worried that Lena's finally actually collapsed while working and no one is there to find her. At 8pm, Kara can't take it anymore and flies to Lena's office.

Lena looks even worse than she had that afternoon, her brows tightly knit together, her jaw constricted in pain, eyes closed, face half-buried in her shoulders on her desk. Kara gets a shock, thinking that she's passed out until she focuses on Lena's breathing and recognises that she's just asleep. Kara sees the dried tear tracks on Lena's face reflected in the moonlight, and the sight of it pierces her heart. As gently as she can, she wipes them away, feeling how hot her girlfriend's face is, her heart squeezing painfully. Guilt starts to consume her, and she shakes her head to clear it, focusing on the task at hand. She picks up Lena as softly as she can manage, careful not to wake her, and flies to Lena's apartment. She worries for the entire journey, wondering how sick Lena is when she's so out of it that she hasn't woken up. She wonders if she should skip Barry's wedding to take care of Lena, but Barry has already asked her to be his wedding singer and she can't bear to let him down. Anyway, after Kara's terrible speech to Lena that afternoon, Kara thinks it is better for the both of them to have some time apart to process.

As she places Lena gently on her couch and covers her up with a blanket (her bed is a restricted zone when she hasn't showered), Lena grabs the front of her supersuit and whispers in her sleep, "I'm not good enough for you, Kara…I'm sorry," Tears fall from her closed eyes and Lena's face is contorted with so much pain that Kara has to look away. The Krpytonian dries her face and presses her lips, as lightly as she can, to Lena's burning forehead. Lena's face relaxes, even though Kara can tell from her heartbeat and her breathing that she's still soundly asleep.

She steps out of Lena's window and blasts off into the night, dread an invisible weight in her boots because maybe their next conversation would be about how they're better off apart.

She flies to Alex's apartment and buries her head in her sister's chest, soaking the older Danvers' t-shirt.

Alex holds her heartbroken sister for hours, until it is time for them to leave for Barry's wedding.


	5. Chapter 5

Lena wakes with a start in the middle of the night. Her head pounds and the room spins. Thankfully, she is already lying down on something soft. Wait, she's at home. How did that happen? She remembers being at L-Corp, stopping in the middle of her work, missing Kara intensely, crying a little and then wanting to just put her head down for a moment because everything hurt so bad. Kara must have come to check on her, found her asleep and flown her home. _Kara_. She remembers having a nightmare where she broke up with Kara because she realised she wasn't good enough for her, couldn't give her the love and attention she deserved. She scolded herself for having these negative thoughts. _I can't let that happen. Kara is the best thing that's happened to me, and I'll just have to be better. I can't lose her._Physical and psychic pain flood her body for a moment, and when it passes, she opens her eyes and realises that she is parched. She sees a glass of water and a bag of medicine next to her, on the coffee table. Next to the bag of medicine, there is a stuffed tiger. Lena feels like crying all over again. They call him Doctor Tigger. It's such a silly name and Lena had rolled her eyes when Kara came up with it, but secretly, hearing Kara say the name touched the tenderest spots of Lena's heart. Kara bought it for her the first time she took care of Lena when she was sick, and he has made an appearance whenever Lena is feeling unwell ever since. She takes the medicine, drains the glass of water and hugs Doctor Tigger, pretending that he is Kara. She can feel sleep pulling her back under, and she is too exhausted and weak to get up and shower and go to her bed. One thing is crystal-clear to her, though, even in her current state of mind fog. Just before she gives in to sleep, she makes a decision about what to do the next day.

A/N: The Dr Tigger part is inspired by fritokay's awesome sickfic "Sick and stubborn" which you totally should read: /works/9559364


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: In this chapter, Kara sings the full version of "Running Home to You" - featured in the Flash-Supergirl musical crossover. I removed the lyrics here as it's against rules. Here's a clip of Melissa's version if you would like to listen to the song while you read this chapter (Recommended esp. If you've never heard it before as it'll give you the context. Right click and select Loop if you want it to repeat automatically): watch?v=EHeQLHpU0OY

You can also go to the AO3 version to read it if you want to see the lyrics alongside the story: /works/19304104

* * *

During Barry's rehearsal dinner, Kara is deep in thought. Alex had been trying to keep her distracted all night by any means possible - from ice-cream to jokes to extremely detailed updates about her latest DEO missions. But she knew Alex needed a break too and insisted she have a drink or two. Alex's efforts and the happy atmosphere have infected her a little bit, and her heart is not as heavy as when she left her own Earth. Her thoughts turn towards marriage. Of course Kara had thought about marriage with Lena. Had thought about it many times, in fact, from the very start of their relationship if she's being honest. Alex had advised her to take it slow, and she'd listened. Even after all that's happened, there was no doubting how happy Lena made her. She could only hope that Lena felt the same. If only she could be sure...sure that they would be happy together in the long term. Back in Krypton, the codex could calculate the odds of the long-term happiness of any pairing and her people always went into marriage knowing the exact probabilities they were up against. She takes a moment to laugh at herself. She is Kara Zor-El, girl of steel, who runs headfirst into Kryptonite-armed enemies but is risk-averse when it comes to her own heart.

The next morning, Kara waits for her cue to start singing, a little nervous. Barry's gesture of getting Kara to sing the song he used to propose is so romantic, and she wants it to be a perfect moment for the couple.

It's time. She allows herself to feel every word in the lyrics, in the context of what Barry had shyly told her about how he had proposed. She feels her eyes starting to water, but she holds back, successfully, determined to keep her vocals clear.

She glances at Barry, wanting to send him encouraging vibes as she'd seen how nervous he was earlier, to wed the girl he's been in love with since he was 10 years old. Kara's voice almost catches in her throat as she sees that Barry's eyes are welling with tears, and he looks like the happiest man on any Earth.

Kara pours all her feelings into the chorus, realises as her heart swells and breaks that it's all she wants Lena to say to her.

She takes a breath, fights the darn tears that are welling up in her eyes again. She still has another verse to go. She misses Lena, wishes fervently that she was here.

Someone in the audience gives Kara a small wave, and the blonde sees a gorgeous, raven-haired woman clad in a purple three-piece suit hidden at the back of the church. Lena turns the full force of her big, green, eyes onto Kara and smiles her just-for-Kara smile. Kara's heart is filled to bursting with _something light_ and she wants to stop the song to kiss her girlfriend.

No such luck. The second verse starts, and Kara fixes her eyes on Lena as she sings it.

When Kara dares to risk forgetting the rest of the song and looks at Lena again, she finds the woman with her lip between her teeth, her eyes wide and soulful, her eyebrows curved downwards in a look of utter vulnerability. Kara calls it Lena's "hug me NOW" face.


	7. Chapter 7

Lena has never heard Kara sing, doesn't know that the girl of steel also has the most angelic voice she's ever heard (but she may be biased).

She's almost sorry that the song seems to be coming to an end. The full force of Kara's gaze is upon her, and she feels like Kara is seeing right into her soul. She forces herself to focus on the song lyrics instead of how much like a princess Kara looks in that pink lacy dress she's wearing, and how much she wants to march up to the front and sweep her off her feet and kiss her right now . Kara looks like she is feeling the lyrics intensely, and Lena wants to know why. Lena focuses on the words, listening intently. When Kara sings the last word, Lena discreetly wipes a tear away from the corner of her eye, and tries to communicate everything in one look at Kara. I understand, and I'm sorry.

Easy decisions are rare in Lena's life - at L-Corp there is always so much at stake, and hefty opportunity costs to consider. But as she claps as loudly as she can along with the rest of the audience, Lena makes her second easy decision in 24 hours.

Lena is running towards Kara even before the final bars of the song have been played. Lena pulls her multi-talented girlfriend into the corner of the church, where they won't distract the rest of the guests from the vows being exchanged, and hugs Kara as tightly as she can, whispering, "I'm so sorry," over and over again.

Kara fixes her with a gaze full of love, and she thanks all of her lucky stars that her girlfriend is so forgiving. She will need more of that forgiveness in about...three minutes. Damn it.

Kara looks at her in wonder. "How are you feeling? And why are you here? I thought you had to go to Metropolis?"

Lena smirks. "Well, I decided to do a quick - very quick - stop, to see you. I didn't like the way we left things yesterday. I'm so glad I did. We have to talk about your singing! I'm much better now - thanks for your medicine." Lena hangs her head sheepishly. "Kara - I'm so sorry," she says again, giving Kara her best imitation of Kara's puppy-dog eyes.

Kara gives her a bone-crushing hug in return. "I love you," the Kryptonian whispers in the brunette's ear, and Lena shivers in pleasure.

The adorable furrow between Kara's brows returns again, and she gently places her hand on Lena's forehead. "I'm fine, baby," Lena says, even as her heart overloads with affection at Kara's tenderness. "And I'm so sorry, but I have to go. My meeting at Metropolis starts in an hour. Send my blessings to the lovely couple, okay?" Kara's face falls, but Lena watches as her girlfriend arranges her features into a brave smile. "Okay. We'll talk when we're both back," Kara says, and gives Lena a lingering kiss that speaks of her longing.

That night, after a long day of meetings in Metropolis, Lena is suddenly refueled with energy when she thinks about the easy decision she had made that morning, while listening to Kara singing. She gets immediately to work, setting her plan into action.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: All fluff from here on, guys. Thanks for making it this far :) . Now, get ready for your teeth to rot

Alex updates Lena through the special between-Earths communication device by S.T.A.R Labs on the crisis on Earth X, informing her that Kara would be back on their Earth later than scheduled. Lena has a distinct suspicion that Alex isn't telling her everything for fear of worrying her, especially since Kara herself hasn't spoken to her through the device for a day now. She makes some calls and adds developing a between-Earths portal to her research team's list of priorities. She would not allow herself to be stuck here, unable to help Kara and her superpowered friends, the next time this happened.

In the meantime, she busies herself with the plan she has set into action. There is plenty to do, and she can only hope Kara is happy with the results, should she come home to her in one piece from Earth X. Lena takes a deep breath to ease her anxiety.She will.

It is two weeks later when Kara finally returns. Lena cancels everything on her schedule and rushes to the DEO immediately when Alex calls, telling her that Kara is back - that she's okay but has to rest under the sun lamps for a while. She hears the Danvers sisters bickering before she enters the med bay, and takes a long, shuddering breath, relief flooding her system.

Lena has only just passed through the med bay's doors when a blue, red and gold blur almost knocks her over, hugging her so tightly that she can't breathe. "I missed you so much ," Kara breathes. "Missed you like crazy too but I can't breathe, Kara," Lena giggles. Lena holds Supergirl at arms' length, checking her over. The Kryptonian looks fine aside from some soot and tears in her suit, and some cuts that are still healing.

Lena does not take it well when the sisters tell her what happened, that Evil Supergirl from Earth X had wanted Kara's heart - and is even madder at the fact that they are probably already telling her the sanitised version of the story. She fixes Kara with a withering gaze, and Supergirl actually steps back. "Do you know how worried I've been? You lecture me about not taking care of myself when I'm sick but you , you just run headfirst into all this danger and Kara - you could have died! Have you ever thought of how I won't be able to carry on if you're gone?" Lena looks down at her hands and finds that she is gesturing wildly. Lilian's voice is instantly in her head, telling her, Luthors stay composed . She sees Kara's kicked-puppy face and forces herself to calm down. "Please, just think about that before you jump into danger next time," Lena feels her racing heart begin to slow as Kara rubs her shoulders soothingly, whispering repeated apologies.

"Alex, I wanna go home with Lena, nowwwwwwwwwwwww" Kara whines. Of course, Alex agrees grumpily, because Alex is powerless to Kara's blue-eyed "please please pretty please" gaze, even after almost a whole lifetime of practice. Lena swallows hard, just realising now that she is always going to be just as powerless for the rest of her life . Basically, she's going to be Kara's bitch whenever she aims those baby blues at her. Damn.

Kara seems fine on the surface, but Lena catches her stumble a few times and wince in pain when she thinks Lena isn't looking. The CEO also catches her girlfriend rubbing her eyes repeatedly during the drive. They are going to Lena's apartment, where Lena has installed sun lamps because Kara hates the med bay, and the superhero does not want them in her home - does not want to be reminded of moments where she came close to losing Lena, Alex, and everyone she loves.

Lena eases Kara's head onto her shoulders and whispers, "Sleep, my love." Kara grabs the front of Lena's black silky top and buries her face in it, inhaling deeply, and in seconds, she is asleep. Lena also leans her head back and closes her eyes, sighing with relief that Kara's okay . Two weeks of sleepless nights catch up to her and she also dozes off.

Once they reach Lena's apartment and Lena tucks a freshly-showered Kara into bed, Kara kisses Lena and says, "Go back to work, I'll be fine on my own".

Lena kisses her back and smiles tenderly. "I don't have to, darling, I cancelled everything on my schedule once Alex called."

Kara's eyes widen. "Everything?!" Lena realises in this moment that she has never dropped everything for Kara before, and her heart fills with guilt.

"Yes, darling, everything. I reflected on what you said and recently made some...arrangements which I can't wait to tell you all about once you're all better. Although I can't promise you won't catch me working on my laptop while you sleep. But only while you sleep, and I'll be right next to you the whole time," Lena promises, patting the space next to her on the bed to emphasise her point. Kara looks like the happiest person on the planet as she beams, "okay," and mumbles something as she closes her eyes.

"What was that, darling?" Lena asks.

"I love you," Kara says, eyes still closed, and kisses Lena, electrifying the brunette's lips with just her touch.

The blonde then immediately falls asleep with the dopiest grin on her face. "I love you, too." Lena kisses her Kryptonian puppy on her forehead and watches her sleep for a while.

Kara drifts in and out of sleep for the rest of the day, and Lena naps next to her too, exhausted by the events of the last two weeks. Kara talks in her sleep sometimes, heartbreaking mutterings like "No, please , I have to make it home to Lena..." and "Don't hurt Alex! Take me...take me…" Lena softly strokes Kara's blonde head each time until Kara's face relinquishes its anguish. Lena realises that Kara isn't diving headfirst into danger insomuch as she is stepping in front of the most formidable enemies to get between them and those she loves.

The next morning, Kara gets up to face Snapper's wrath after being fed two weeks' worth of excuses by James. Lena makes sure her girlfriend is all loved-up before she leaves the apartment, preparing her to face the tough day.

The next day is Saturday, thankfully, and Lena announces, to Kara's glee, that she is not working that day, but needs her to meet someone in the evening. They spend the day watching movies and cuddling, completely relaxed, Kara catching up with what Lena was doing the past two weeks while trying (and failing) not to reveal anything more about the dangerous situations they got into on Earth X.

At 7pm, Lena's doorbell rings, and Lena's hand, which has been holding Kara's all day, tugs Kara up to her feet. The Kryptonian follows Lena to the door, puzzled. Since when did they greet guests together? "Please come in," Lena smiles warmly at the guest.

"Kara, I want you to meet Samantha Arias, COO of L-Corp."

Kara smiles warmly and shakes Sam's hand, confusion clouding her brow. "But, Lena, I thought you've been double-hatting as the COO for the longest time?"

"Yes, darling, but a beautiful girl has been telling me that I have too much on my plate, and I decided to listen," Lena smirks back at her, and is satisfied when Kara's breath catches. She knows her smirks have that effect on the blonde.

"Sam has been a great help to me. I'm still showing her the ropes, but in a short two weeks she's already demonstrated great capability, and I'm going to hand her half of my responsibilities at L-Corp," Lena fixes her eyes on Kara, wanting to catch her reaction. Kara's face lights up and she looks so, so proud of Lena that Lena's heart swells.


	9. Chapter 9

The three women chat for half an hour, Kara asking about how Sam is finding it so far in her new job. The blonde is still in shock that Lena, her Lena , who has always trusted only herself before Kara came along, would relinquish that much control to someone else. But it's true, Kara realises when Sam speaks in detail about L-Corp's top-secret research projects and interests in each part of the globe. Lena is relinquishing control, slowly, but surely, to this incredible woman. Sam was her good friend at MIT and headed the second biggest company in the world before she took a break to spend time with her kid, and Lena hired her. Kara is sure that Lena has all the legal contracts in place to take care of her worst fears, but still, this was an extremely brave step for Lena, and she is incredibly proud of her girlfriend.

At 7.30pm Sam tells them she needs to get back to her daughter, and leaves. As Lena closes her door, she turns to Kara and says, "It's just as well that Sam needed to go, because we have an 8pm reservation to make." Lena employs that smirk again.

"Is it that French place with weird food names but where everything tastes mind-blowing?" Kara gushes, almost jumping up and down in excitement at the thought of a repeat visit to her latest favourite restaurant.

"Of course, darling," Lena replies with a kiss.

When they reach the restaurant, Kara is surprised to find it empty.

Lena looks puzzled. "Well, looks like I needn't have bothered making reservations. I hope their food is still good."

Kara enthusiastically orders a staggering amount of food on the menu. "They can cook faster since there are no other guests!" She says happily in response to Lena's raised eyebrow.

"You're lucky I'm rich," Lena teases, kissing Kara's knuckles.

"We can go dutch!" Kara raises her chin defiantly. Lena shakes her head, chuckling, and kisses her again.

Kara's face grows serious and she places her hand over Lena's, draws circles on it. "Did you hire Sam because of what I said?" She looks down, feeling guilty. "You didn't have to, you know."

Lena grasps Kara's hands in both of her own. "No, darling, you were right. You were absolutely right. I was in over my head, have been for months, and refusing to get help. I really wanted to handle it all by myself. When we had that big fight..." Lena swallows, her eyes red around the rims, and Kara leans over to kiss her cheek.

"When we fought, I was so mad but I did a lot of reflecting after that, and I realised you were right. And that I can't lose you. I can't lose you , Kara," She squeezes Kara's hand tightly, and Kara squeezes back.

"So I thought of a solution. I wanted to do this. I knew it was overdue. I wanted to hire Sam. And it's been so good for me, such a relief to hand things over, to let someone trustworthy take care of them so I can just focus on the biggest priorities. I thought it would be a lot harder than this, but really it's been more of a relief than a challenge," Lena says, sighing happily.

"I wanted to do this, and I hope you know what this means for you, Kara."

"What does it mean?" The blonde's eyes are welling up with tears, and her brows are quirked in confusion.

"Hang on, the first course is here."

"Yay!" Kara digs in, serious conversation all but forgotten at the sight of food.

"Oh my RAO, Lena, this is SO GOOD," Kara turns to look at Lena, her mouth so full she resembles a squirrel with acorns stuffed into its cheeks, her eyes bugged out. "Lena?"

She finds Lena next to her, on the floor, on one knee. The rose-gold ring she proffers is custom-made, with a twisty prong streaked with blue, red and gold. There is also a tinge of green, so that Kara would always be reminded of Lena's eyes, but only if you look at it from the top - from the ring-wearer's vantage point. The prong clutches the biggest diamond Lena could find through ethical means.

The ring was forged with Kryptonian technology to ensure that the diamond would never drop and the ring would never get scratched or drop from her finger, in case Kara decided to wear it on her Supergirl adventures. The ring would also camouflage itself into Kara's supersuit to avoid any observations that Supergirl and Kara Danvers wear the same engagement ring. It had been Clark and Alura's idea, after Lena had asked them for Kara's hand while in Metropolis. After that, she had jumped onto her jet for a quick trip to Midvale to ask Eliza, who gave her tearful consent. She had asked Alex the day after they had returned from Earth X, while Kara was sleeping. The look in Alex's eyes as she cried and nodded yes was the most touching sight Lena had ever seen.

"The restaurant's not empty because there are no customers," Kara breathes, bringing Lena back to the present.

"Yes, darling, it's because I booked the whole place," Lena smiles indulgently, patiently, as she waits on bended knee for Kara to catch on.

"But...but...you were puzzled too when you found it empty!"

"I know! My performance today almost rivals my acting skills when I was pretending I didn't know you are Supergirl, right?" She says wryly. "Now, are you going to let me say my piece or not?"

Kara nods, her hand clamped over her mouth, tears already freely flowing.

Lena takes a deep breath, composes herself, holds back her own tears.

"Kara, another big reason why I hired Sam was because…" She has to take a breath - she is fighting a losing battle with her tears, and her voice is already quavering.

"Because I heard you singing that song at Barry's wedding, and I wanted you to know…" Lena swallows thickly. "To know that...I'll always want to run home to you." Kara gasps, crying helplessly, and gets down on the floor, enclosing Lena in a bone-crushing hug.

"Yes! My answer is yes!" Kara says.

"I haven't asked yet, darling," Lena says, laughing, sniffling.

"You're not in my way, Kara. The only reason why I prefer to work in the office is because it's so hard to focus when I look at you, I just want to keep staring at you and I'm just...I'm just useless when you're around. If I could have it my way, I would want to be around you all the time . And do you know why I work so hard, baby? It used to be because I wanted to prove myself. And then I met you, when you were just Kara Danvers to me, and I saw your drive and how you climbed up from becoming an assistant to the most respected reporter in the English-speaking world. Then I realised my achievements are nothing. I was pretty much handed a whole company on a plate, and it is all I can do to keep it thriving. You , you started from nothing. I just...I just want to be as amazing as you. And let's not even talk about Supergirl - how can anyone be good enough for Supergirl ? I can only try my best every single day."

"Lena Melissa Luthor, don't you dare to say you are not amazing! You've had so many breakthroughs that the Nobel Prize panel has shortlisted you - and you took your dying company and built it up to become the biggest company in the world - in just a year! Supergirl's powers are something I was born with - I didn't do anything to earn them! But you , you single-handedly rebuilt L-Corp's reputation from the depths of Lex's madness!" Lena takes one look at Kara's indignant face, and chuckles.

"Ok, baby, I'll stop saying that," Lena acquiesces, because she can't say no to that face.

Kara can see that Lena isn't entirely convinced. "I will spend the rest of my life convincing you that you are amazing , Lena Luthor," Kara says, with so much feeling that Lena chokes up. The CEO takes a breath, and asks the most important question of her life.

"Kara Zor-El Danvers, will you marry me?"

"Yes." This time, Kara's voice is a reverent whisper, and she is looking into Lena's eyes as though the secrets of the universe are contained within them.

* * *

A/N: What did you think? I hope I've not made Kara too out-of-character - I wanted her to express her feelings of neglect (she's still "human" after all, in the feelings aspect) while not seeming too far away from her usual selfless personality.

Let me know how you liked it - good or bad! Still working on my Lena voice - as you may have noticed, chapters in her POV are shorter. Tips welcome!

Would you like another chapter with the wedding/honeymoon/something else, or do you think ending here is just right?

P.S. I've read a lot of fics where Kara proposes but not as many where Lena does. In my mind, Lena seems like the one with more initiative for this type of thing, so I made it happen in this fic! Hope y'all liked it!

P.P.S. If anyone has good gifs of Kara's puppy-dog eyes and Lena's hug-me face, please send them my way so I have a better frame of reference whenever I write those scenes. XD


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